Sir Bob Murray on Sunderland AFC, Peter Reid, family, anxiety and side-stepping a fatal helicopter crash

Here is part 2 of the Echo’s interview with former SAFC chairman Sir Bob Murray on the launch of his entertaining new autobiography, I’d Do It All Again, published at his own expense and with all proceeds going to The Foundation of Light.

(Sunderland Echo). Tell us about (BBC documentary) Premier Passions. It certainly blazed a trail.

(Sir Bob Murray). Lesley (Callaghan, former SAFC director) can take credit for that. I used to go to London and became so well-known that cockney taxi drivers said “Bob Murray” for “hurry”.

Lesley said “What have we got to hide?” Nothing. I think it’s the best programme (of its type). It’s all about showbiz now. It was genuine. No editorialising (from SAFC). Like I said, I’d Do it All Again.

Peter Reid

Peter had a bad reputation at Manchester City (his previous club). He was quite combative. He’d been out of the game for a while. After the David Kelly incident…

(Unknown to SAFC’s board, Reid had bought striker Kelly for around £1 million in 1995, despite the club only having £200,000. However, Kelly went on to be… a complete flop)

… we became quite close. We worked very hard at our relationship. I’d take Peter out for a meal in Yarm nearly every week.

I believe you either back the man, or sack the man. I saw Peter at Wigan away last year and we had a drink, as you would with Peter. If I see him we say hello.

We had a bottle of champagne when he left, but it was really sad the way he went. That was the lowest point, I think.

Sacking him wasn’t a mistake then?

Peter had spent tens of millions of pounds on players and contracts, which is well documented, no matter what he says at talk-ins. It was as bad at the end as it was good at the beginning.

You spent a few million on the North Stand extension in 2001. Peter Reid wasn’t happy with that.

No. But I wasn’t happy with what he spent on Fredgaard, Núñez and Flo. He wasn’t investing very well, was he?

The first game of this season was against Ipswich on Sky. People turn up at 12.30 and they put their hands in their pockets when it’s on TV. It’s a massive ask. When I see that (crowd), I don’t think Peter was right. I could have signed a full-back that didn’t make it, or have the North Stand.

In 1983 you and your wife Sue probably escaped death by not boarding a helicopter to the Scilly Isles. It crashed killing 20 of 26 people on board.

We always went to north Cornwall on holiday. We drove to the heliport in Penzance. It was Saturday and we were going to Tresco. It was hazy. There were no more flights to Tresco, but two seats left on the helicopter to St Mary’s. We looked at each other and decided not to get on that flight; the one that went down.

We got the ferry, which was four hours and not a nice journey. We transferred from St Mary’s to Tresco where the floodlights were on and the phone was ringing. It was friends and relations, seeing if we were alive. That was the year before I got involved with the club.

I took a helicopter back, because I thought if I didn’t I would never get on another plane. But I’ve never been on a helicopter since.

This book has brought back so many bad things as well as good things; things I had passed and locked and buried. It’s brought them all back. It’s been a little bit disturbing. I have ups and downs like everybody else. I’ve got failures and anxieties.

Does anxiety still affect you?

A little bit, but nothing like when I was chairman. The chairman has the pressure. You might have a great board of directors, but the buck stops with you.

In my kitchen business, we control it. But what happens in football on a Saturday, like last Saturday with that referee, you can’t legislate for.

I’ve been left 17 years now. I think if I’d stayed I wouldn’t be here. For certain. The lifestyle, the whole thing; it’s all-consuming being chairman of a club as great as this. That’s if you mean it, like Kyril (Louis-Dreyfus) does.

I’m not sure Ellis Short gave a ‘what’ about it.

What next?

I want to stay with the Foundation of Light. It’s the fifth year. This year we’re hoping to make a profit for the first time. It’s needed more than ever. We’ve had issues of covid, mental health, keeping warm, suicides, people just talking to each other. We’ve got 48 classes running. We’re getting tremendous results. It’s an awesome place.

You went from being a heavy smoker to a marathon runner.

In my 40s I was blessed with a third child, a son. We’d been to Leeds United, a big game for me as a Yorkshire businessman. We got beat badly. I looked at the box and I’d had 14 cigarettes during the game. I said to my wife that night that I’d never smoke again; and I never did.

I was running before I stopped smoking. I’d be having a cigarette on the Great North Run start line. I used running as an outlet for stress and anxiety, as well as making me feel good. I became a three-hour, three-minute marathon runner.

You’re a proud dad and grandad. How’s the family?

We’re fine. My son’s a fanatical Sunderland supporter. My grandsons are in red and white nearly every day of the week.

I go to breakfast and there are five high-chairs. They’re bringing the bairns up the right way. They’ll all be Sunderland supporters.

:: I’d Do It All Again is £20 from www.sirbobmurraybook.com, the Beacon of Light and SAFC stores.